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Basic Game Playtest

Our playtest started with each of us choosing twelve figures to play. I had the brown based Mohawk while my opponent had the green based Huron. Both players separated their Warband into two groups. I had my Great Warrior with the Veteran Warrior and some Warbearers in one group with my two Companions and Shaman along with the Stripling and a Warbearer in a second group. My opponent had a similar setup. But he had a Companion with the Veteran Warrior with the Companion with the Great Warrior. This is the first time we had used Veteran Warriors so they were a neat addition to our force pool. It was also the first game with Shamans and Orenda involved (see the previous entry).

Moving towards a Furs Marker.

I won the initiative and took the first movement. I rolled a two and the Huron player rolled a five and in these rules the low roll is good, so I won the initiative. I immediately moved my Great Warrior at a walk forward to attempt to get to my first Furs Marker (again see the previous entry for more about Furs Markers). I could not reach the marker immediately so I spotted my opponent. My Great Warriors group was successful at spotting opponent. He was considered in cover because a set of woods was in between our groups, so I needed to roll a three or less and succeeded.

The Huron React towards the enemy and the Furs.

The Huron now responded by moving to the edge of the trees and attempting to spot my warriors. He was successful in his spot and now both sides had one group visible. He was obviously on the way to one of the Furs Markers we had placed before the game started. His second group attempted to react and ended up failing the roll. All groups must roll less than the CV of their leader in order to "react" to an opponents move. The Huron's second group, led by a Companion, needed a four or less to activate and failed the roll, achieving a six. His group stayed in place and was not allowed to react.

As my second action in my turn as the phasing player I rushed my Great Warrior forward and stationed the Veteran Warrior next to the Furs Marker which looks surprising like a small puddle. The Veteran Warrior must stand for one turn beside the Furs Marker to claim it. At which point it will move to my side of the table and be considered my loot from the game. The player who gets the most loot wins the game. It is now the Huron turn. The player takes the Turn Indicator (we use a large 54mm figure on base) and he makes his Medicine Roll. The Huron rolls a two and all his groups may move.

The Huron player attempts to move his Companion led group forward and rolls two dice for a walk move. He rolls two ones. The walk move takes the highest of two dice so he can move the group one inch forward. Not a fast start for that group. This group attempts to spot the second Mohawk group that contains the Shaman and are not successful rolling a six which will never spot any groups. The other Huron group parks on the edge of the woods and fires some arrows at the Mohawk group out in the open, picking up the Furs Marker. No wounds occur.

The Companion leads a rush and take a wound from Bow fire.

The Mohawk player, me, now gets to React to the Huron movement. One of the Companions in the group with the Shaman charges towards another Fur Marker, however, in a strategic or greedy idea, depending on your point of view, I have them skip the closer Fur Marker and run toward the marker that is further away, trying to get a jump on my opponent in collecting the Furs Markers. As this small group approaches the Furs Marker (a column in the picture) the Shaman and the second Companion activate and the Shaman takes the "Create a Spell" action rolling one die and placing it on the Orenda Sheet. The Group led by the Great Warrior activates and the Veteran warrior picks up the Furs Marker. There are two bowmen in this group and they open up with fire at their opposite numbers, both missing the target.

The beginning of the second turn and I fail my Medicine roll.

For their second action the Huron groups both move forward. The group near the back of the table performs a walk move and takes a long bow fire at the rapidly moving Mohawk group on that flank. They manage to cause a wound to one of the warbearers that accompany the Companion. Missile fire requires a successful roll less than the firing figures CV. This is modified for movement. The Huron fired a Stripling with a bow and a Warbearer. They had walked forward so the Warbearer needed a two or less (CV of three - 1 modifier for moving is 2 or less). The Stripling gets the same modifier so that figure needs a one on a d6 to successfully hit the target group. One hit occurs and a random figure is chosen as the target with a die roll. Key Characters can choose their target but others roll randomly to see who they hit. Once the hit is determined, a roll is made on a wound chart with a higher roll causing more damage. Damage can be modified by range, bows do more damage at 12" (they get a +1 modifier) and even more damage under 6". Knives, tomahawks and spears can also be thrown in the game.
The second turn of the game begins and the Mohawk player fails his Medicine roll with a six on the die. The Medicine roll is performed by each player at the beginning of their turn and determines which groups may move for the turn. There is a also a special result called the Medicine roll. A six for the Medicine results in a few weird things happening in the game, including checking to see if wounds get worse or better. The phasing player can only move one group and that group can only make one action which the opponent still gets to React to in his phase, and then the turn is over. Also you must roll on the Medicine table, which brings unusual elements into the game. In my turn I roll an unseen ditch. As you can see in the picture above a ditch is found in the terrain that was not seen before and the opponent places a 1" by 6" long ditch which takes a whole action to move over appears. So much for going in that direction.

To be continued...

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